An NI number...

Is one of the essential things you need to work (legally) here in the UK. It's kind of a cross between our Medicare and Tax File numbers back at home, except, it's both.
NI stands for National Insurance...


When you first arrive, you need to contact the Department of Work and Pensions, tell them you're on a visa, and provide them with relevant details, including your postal address. They will then send you out a form to complete.

Once you send the form back, with some photocopies of your stuff, they will eventually send you out a number, which you need to provide to any employers.

One of the things it's important to know is, you cannot work without an NI number, and in particular you can't even be considered for roles with the London Boroughs unless you have one - the fact that you should have one within a week isn't enough. (Or so I was told)

So once you have an address, you should get into gear and organise your national insurance number.

This number also allows you to go down to a doctor etc, in a similar way to Medicare allows you to in Australia, except my understanding is it's all free.

NI also takes care of your tax levies, which pays for the free medical system. Again, similar to medicare...